That broken sphere up there, that’s no moon. It’s a Death Star. Or, to be more specific, it’s the incomplete Death Star II, the second iteration of the intergalactic battle station, built by the villainous Galactic Empire after the smaller Death Star I was triumphantly blown to smithereens by Jedi apprentice Luke Skywalker at the end of “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.”

Since it first appeared on cinema screens in 1977, the Death Star has become an iconic image of science-fiction cinema, initially made famous by Alec Guinness’ ominous line, “That’s no moon. It’s a space station.” Well, now it’s about to become that little bit more famous, thanks to Japanese internet user tatumaru5963. Y’see, Mr(s). tatumaru5963 has intricately created his/her own miniature Death Star II, using just a ping pong ball and card stock.

The creator of this mini masterpiece provided some commentary on his/her glorious creation, as reproduced here thanks to the wonders of online translators: “Things repeatedly cutting the ping-pong ball, plastic board was finely cut of 0.2, we reproduce the internal structure.”

So, a certain someone or other just got capped in the face during an awesome covert op on May 2nd, just in case you hadn’t heard. After ten years in hiding, he was finally brought to justice. His case leads us to think about some other villains that were the cause of massive, nationwide, sometimes worldwide efforts to capture or kill them. [Read more…]